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And so, throughout the 20th century, any number of trends in domestic audio popped up their heads, some remembered as fads, others as legitimate approaches to playback. Among the latter are amplifiers whose output sections operate in single-ended mode, in which the entire signal waveform is amplified by a single device (footnote 1)—usually a tube, most…

A few seconds after I first powered up Ken Micallef's review sample of the Edge A (serial no. HT C10972 6856 0020) it turned itself off, its front-panel light glowing red to indicate a fault. I suspect that, despite the protection afforded by the impressive packaging, the box had been dropped somewhere on its way to me. As Cambridge's Dominic Baker was visiting the company's US office, in Chicago, he stopped by my Brooklyn test lab on his way back to the UK with a second sample for me to measure (serial no. HT C10925 6853 0026).

This second sample of the…

Description: Single-ended, tubed monophonic power amplifier. Tube complement (each amp): two 6SN7, one 300B, one 845 or one 211. Inputs: 2 single-ended (1 RCA, 1 XLR). Output power with 845 power tube: 27W (class-A, 14.3dBW), 50W (class-A2, 17dBW). Output power with 211 power tube: 27W (class-A, 14.3dBW), 70W (class-A2, 18.45dBW). Input impedance: 150k ohms. Output impedance: separate connectors for 4, 8, 16 ohms. Signal/noise: >80dB below rated output. Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz, ±0.5dB, at full power output.
Dimensions: 12.25" (310mm) W by 10" (255mm…

Analog Sources: Garrard 301 turntable; Audio-Creative GrooveMaster II, EMT 997 tonearms; EMT TSD 15, Ortofon SPU A Wood, Shindo Laboratory SPU pickup heads; Koetsu Onyx Platinum cartridge.
Digital Source: Mytek Liberty D/A processor, Sony SCD-777 SACD/CD player.
Preamplification: Auditorium 23 Hommage T1 & T2 step-up transformers, Shindo Laboratory Monbrison (2017) preamplifier.
Power Amplifier: Shindo Laboratory Haut-Brion.
Loudspeakers: DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/93.
Cables: Interconnect: Audio Note AN-Vx, Luna Red, Shindo…

I measured one of the Cary CAD-805RS amplifiers (serial no. 180218) using my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It"). Before doing so, I installed all the tubes, following the guide in the manual, and checked that the bias current for the 300B driver tube was the recommended 60mA, using the front-panel meter. I checked the bias current several times while performing the measurements, but it hadn't changed. I took complete sets of measurements from the 4, 8, and 16 ohm output-transformer taps with the 845 output tube that AD preferred,…

The recording…

This is surely one of the most exciting works written in the twentieth century. and if there is going to be an upsurge of interest in the works of this great Danish composer as a result of this recording, then Mr. Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic will have rendered music lovers an invaluable service.

I don't recall another recording by these artists which I can greet with greater enthusiasm than this one. We are fortunate,…

From the standpoint of content and musicianship this is a superb collection of delightful music performed with the consummate authority and artistry for which Mr. Janigro and I Solisti de Zagreb are justly famous. The recording, too, while by no means perfect, is at least pre-…

On first hearing, Aqua Acoustic Quality's Formula xHD D/A processor was highly engaging. It was immediately obvious that the Formula xHD was a relaxed, unmechanical-sounding ladder DAC—a converter that dispenses with off-the-shelf processor chips in favor of a string of voltage dividers, made from discrete resistors arranged in an R-2R or ladder configuration. In less than a minute, I was admiring the deluxe, all-natural quality of its sound. Wow! I thought. So this is what it's like to have a $17,000 DAC in my…